throwaway21442

Poor article, even by the already low standards of The Economist. In effect, trying to tell business leaders they don't understand their market as well as the Economist column-writers do.

> Firms peddling anything much beyond soap, matches and phone-credit are targeting a minuscule slice of the population

Well, yes, but tell us something new. Even this minuscule slice is (a) A large market and (b) is growing quite rapidly. For example:

Automobiles: growing at around 6% p.a, shifting towards more expensive models. Now 4th largest in the world in terms of numbers (no doubt, lower in total $ sales)[1]

Smartphones: 2nd biggest in the world [2]

Consumer Durables: growing at over 10% [3]

Business leaders are not interested in India because they're stupid and they think India is a rich, egalitarian country. They are interested because of a fast rising middle class with a booming consumer economy, which, contrary to the claims of the article, is true. For millions of people like myself, who emerged into the middle class thanks to private sector jobs that only emerged after the 90s, this is lived experience.

For a much better take on the topic, please read:

https://swarajyamag.com/economy/demonetisation-how-neo-middl...

[1]http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/india-trumps-germa...

[2] https://techcrunch.com/2017/10/27/india-second-largest-smart...

[3] https://www.ibef.org/industry/consumer-durables-presentation

It does not get emphasized enough, but the caste system in India is a very very complicated issue. Any effort create a simple mental model for it (say, by mapping it to racial apartheid) would not take one closer to real understanding.

For those interested, here is a good piece by Venkatesh Rao which touches upon this subject: https://www.ribbonfarm.com/2016/11/10/king-ruinous-and-the-c...

As to the specific incident in the news, I would only say that it is not hard to find a couple hundred men for Rs. 500 who would go about trashing cars and buses for a few hours, while the police would have instructions not to act too strongly against them, for fear of further conflagration. Once this is done, it is all up to journalists, op-ed writers to offer up (and amplify) their favorite perspectives.